Maltose-1-phosphate (hereinafter may be abbreviated as “M-1-P”) is found in spinach chloroplast (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1) and Mycobacterium cells (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 2). M-1-P has been reported to participate in inhibitory mechanism of cell adhesion (see, for example, Non-Patent Documents 3, 4, and 5), and has found utility in, for example, foods, cosmetic products, pH buffers, reagents for research, and starting materials of substrates for enzyme.
A known method for producing M-1-P employs M-1-P-producing enzyme, and specific examples thereof which have heretofore been reported include maltose kinase of Actinoplanes missouriensis (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 6) and maltose synthase contained in spinach (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 7). However, the former enzyme requires ATP for proceeding reaction of maltose and phosphoric acid with a substrate, and the latter requires two glucose-1-phosphate molecules for a substrate, and in consideration of high substrate cost, methods employing these enzymes are not practical in industrial production of M-1-P.
Non-Patent Document 1: FEBS Letters 1976, 61 (2): 192-3;
Non-Patent Document 2: Enzyme Microb. Technol. 1995, 17, 140-146;
Non-Patent Document 3: Atherroscleosis 1998, 136 (2): 297-303;
Non-Patent Document 4: Acta Histochem. 1997, 99 (4): 401-410;
Non-Patent Document 5: J. Immunol. 1989, 143 (11): 3666-3672;
Non-Patent Document 6: Arch Microbiol. 2003, 180 (4): 233-239;
Non-Patent Document 7: Planta. 1982, 154: 87-93.